"Look at ," he said, eventually. He could think of no other alternative. Fear was as good a dium as any, after all. "You will not stand idly in this next confrontation. You will raise your voice, as you've seen Sergeant's raise their voices before. You will command the n nearest to you, and you will give a thought to nothing but pushing forward."
There were golden flecks in his eyes as he gave that order. The tiniest little glimpse of Ingolsol's power. He'd only ever used it on people that were for a certainty his enemies – people that would never want to fight for him, no matter what he said to him. For these n, it was different. With the help of Ingolsol, he gave them the slightest nudge.
He didn't know whether it would work as he expected it or not, but he needed it regardless.
"Good, go on then," Oliver said, sending them back. "You'll return to after this battle, and you'll share your nas with ."
He dismissed them. It was hard to tell if there was any sort of change in them whatsoever. They moved with that sa manner of stooped puppets that all the slave n moved with.
"Was that a failure, my Lord?" Verdant asked. "Perhaps it might have been more useful to speak to that man Judas, or to Lady Nila. They seem more likely to have understood what you wished from them."
"Perhaps," Oliver conceded, glancing to the side. Jorah and Kaya and Karesh were still there, waiting for an opportunity to show themselves. Oliver didn't doubt that they'd cause so sort of change – as would Blackthorn, who was there with them.
But, he figured, if the foundations of the army were rotten, throwing his best retainers on top of them wouldn't do much to rectify that already broken structure.
He shouted over to Cormrant. "Let's go again," he said.
The Vice-Commander nodded, apparently growing accustod to the idea of training battles. It seed at first he had expected it to be more violent than it had ended up being. No doubt he was ready for the sa to happen again.
By now, even the n tasked with improvent were returning to their work, shaking their heads. The slaves had proved to be a great disappointnt, after all. There had been no competition. It just went to show that, no matter how large the man, if he lacked training, then he would never stand a chance against a far mightier army.
Judas was shouting as he gathered his n behind him, giving them so sort of speech, in that passionate way that he had, thumping his chest far more tis than any man ought to. He seed to think that all big n spoke the sa ape speech that he occasionally fell into. Nila was there as well, with the occasion interjection, a clear look of judgnt on her face as she evaluated them.
She gave a few furious points, offering instructions of so sort, and she even managed to get a reaction out of the n from it.
"I wonder how many battles it will take before they can hold their ground…" Kaya murmured.
"Too many," Blackthorn replied. "Father would call it 'fighting paper walls'. They're not nearly as strong as they look."
"Begin!" Oliver shouted, bringing the pre-battle discussions to an end once again. They'd only been afforded ten or so minutes to rest, but the first battle had been such a short affair that they could have gone imdiately after.
At once, it began to play out much the sa as it had last ti. Judas and Firyr were by far the most enthusiastic of all the n. They took to the front straight away, and were charging at top speed, not an ounce of fear on their faces. Judas had always been an aggressive man, but it was only now, when Oliver's eyes were firmly on him that he began to grasp the scale of that aggressiveness properly.
It was hard to believe that he was soon to be a father.
"CRUSSSHHH THEM! FOR THE BOSS!" Judas shouted sothing nonsensical, seeming to think that he was back in Solgrim, collecting money for Greeves. Whatever he was thinking, it seed to work. His sword caught one spear shaft firmly as he went in. The blow sent the weapon veering wildly off to the side, tangling up with another two spears, bringing them out of position, and opening up a gap.
But once again there was no one behind Judas to take advantage of it.
On the right flank, Firyr was engaged in much the sa battle, though the breadth of his concentration seed to be broader than it had been before. Instead of just focusing on the enemy in front of him, he was glancing behind him, making sure his n were following. Oliver recognized five of the slave n from yesterday amongst them, a clear fire in their eyes.
They were far more motivated than the rest, and they were keeping pace with their Sergeant. The others in their squadron hurried to do the sa, swept along by the current of emotion.
This ti, when Firyr hit, he did so with the weight of ten n. His spearmanship won him a strike of another soldier, sending him to his knees, opening up a gap – and this ti, it was a gap that his n stread straight through, widening it in an instant.
"Gods! What the hell is that?" Oliver heard a soldier shout, as he paused his axe work to watch the battle.
All of a sudden, n were flying. The gap of a single man was widened in an instant to five. Padded swords and axes were swung with a ssy lack of efficiency, but every ti they struck sothing, they carried enough force to lift n up off the ground. Firyr had built them a bridge, and now that the n were in lee range, they had a use.
The fire of the blooded n spread to the entirety of the squad. Sothing was in front of them, and it began to sll of victory. They were giving roars and battle cries as they put their all into the fight. Sothing, evidently, was building.
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